New discovery at Balok - Azam Roasters Cafe

Overall comment: Surprisingly delicious lamb chop! Writing about it now makes me wanna head back there for round 2 tonight! There's no service charge nor GST & you won't need to pay for your glass of ice water (some places do charge for even a glass of drinking water).
Halal: Yes

Note: This is not an invited review

It's been a LONG while since I embarked on a random adventure for dinner (and yes, it's been too long since I last blogged as well as I've been really busy). I once saw a photo of a nice-looking restaurant that Clare posted on her FB & decided to ask her to introduce me to that place for dinner last night.

We actually drove all the way, around 15km away from home, to pop by Mint Restaurant at Balok, but we didn't check ahead to find out if they're open on Mondays. Alas upon arrival, we found out that it closes every Monday! Bah.

But thanks to Google & Waze, we managed to find some other place to have our dinner (we were famished!) & we stumbled upon Azam Roasters Cafe. It's right after KFC in Balok, before the Petronas petrol station. Little did I know, this cafe is actually quite popular & has been on magazines & newspapers previously. Oooo...

The wall tells you all...what a discovery for us!

Their menu features a decent selection of western food like chicken chop, fish & chips, lamb chop & steak, plus a handful of pizzas, pastas & even local cuisines. They have a lunch special menu as well. I was actually pleasantly surprise that the prices here are pretty affordable for the taste of the dish :)

Lamb chop (RM18.00/serving)

I'm very particular when it comes to lamb chop, but this lamb chop was good!! So good that we wanted to order another plate! The 2 generous pieces of lamb were well marinated & seasoned, perfectly cooked (still tender & juicy) & even the garlic bread plus wedges tasted delicious. Hahaha.

Under the 2 pieces of lamb were a treasure of other side dishes..nothing extraordinary, but these simple sides actually tasted good. After some research, I found out that Chef Azam actually specializes in roast whole lamb...woots!

Al Fungi Pizza (RM22.00/serving)

Personally, I didn't enjoy the pizza although I love the fact that it was loaded with mushrooms & cheese. Instead of using the usual tomato puree as base, they used chili sauce (ergh...). This is probably to suit the palate of the local Malay community here as the Balok area is more Malay populated. If only they used proper tomato base for the pizza, I think it could be much better in taste. In addition, the pizza base is also not made in-house, so it felt kinda thick & not fluffy enough. Not my preference when it comes to pizza at Azam Roasters.

Mixed Grill (RM38.00/serving)

 What an interesting mixed grill platter...see the prawns & squid rings? Hahaha...I rarely come across such mixed grill platters with seafood (apart from fish). For RM38.00, it's not too bad, but we were disappointed with the freshness of the prawns & squid, considering that this is a "seafood/beach area".

The load on the mixed grill platter

Beneath the large piece of lamb chop was actually another piece of lamb chop, a piece of grilled chicken breast meat, 1 large chicken sausage (nothing to shout about) & the usual sides. I guess for the portion & effort to cook each item, the price is reasonable & if you're not extremely hungry, this portion can be shared by 2 persons. The lamb chop is still the best...haha.

If you happen to be at Balok or would just want to embark on an adventure to hunt for some good food out of Kuantan town, yet not drive too far for a meal, I think Azam Roasters would satisfy :) We would have often thought that Western food should be best prepared by Westerners, but seems like Chef Azam, who was a chef with Swiss Garden Hotel previously, is doing a good job to boost our local talent to the next level :D

Business hours: Mon - Sat 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.; Sun 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
p/s: They have another outlet at Indera Mahkota 8 as well.


Ratings:
Presentation: * * * *
Price: * * * *
Environment: * * *
Taste: * * * 1/2
Service: * * * 


Overall:






Just love the lamb chop!